finally home.

Our sweet Bobba has gone to be with the Lord.  

How sweet are these words.  Wednesday night two weeks ago, Mom and I got to Chattanooga around 8:00 pm.  Bobba said goodbye to this world that night in the wee hours of the morning and finally made it home.  I am so grateful that the Lord allowed us to get there just in time.  The Lord heard the cries of my heart to be with my family when he passed and to see Bobba one last time.  It was a full week...full of things to do and people to see, a full house with visitors and family, it was full of fun times and sad moments too and I think it goes without saying that WE were full.  Constantly full of so. much. food.  You know you live in the south when the fridge is full of casseroles, fried chicken, ham and congealed salad.  Even though I'm not a big congealed salad fan, it warmed my heart to be surrounded by some familiar foods.  And no one would have enjoyed all of this more than the one and only "Shotgun-Shirttail Robert Bryan Kile".  The man loved life, having fun, softball and cracking jokes, he loved his family, his wife and his Jesus.  What an example of a man that took this life by both horns and lived it to the fullest.  I might be biased, but I think my dad, (uncle) Steve and (uncle) Clay did a fabulous job at the service as we celebrated such a joyous life in Christ.  As I was helping Meme to make the programs for the service, we decided on the front to say, 'Celebrating a Life in Christ: Robert Brayn Kile.'  She and Bob had decided long ago that this day was to be about Christ and not about them.  His life surely was and I hope that we honored Christ and Bobba's wishes in our celebration of his life.  I am so thankful for the heritage of faith I follow after.  I am blessed to have such strong believers and leaders with the most incredible faith to call my grandparents and family members.  Family is a gift like no other. 

In other news...

I returned to Puebla exactly one week later (last Wednesday).  The following morning we headed out to Guadalajara.  The family I live with and I went to a discipleship conference in Guadalajara at El Camino's daughter church.  The conference was great and of course I was so excited to see all my girls there!  

Sadly, I only got a picture of Johana and Andrea.  I have got to start taking more pictures.  I wish you could see cute little Alma's happy face that was once so shy and sad when I met her 2 years ago, or Valeria, or Karla, or sweet Armando's face that now has burns from where his mother threw hot beans in his face.  The situations of the kids in this community of Guadalajara are heartbreaking.  It's full of prostitution, drugs and alcohol...and you can imagine the repercussions that come with these things- abuse, infidelity, single parents, poverty, hunger- the list goes on and on.  Sometimes I am so overwhelmed for these children that I love so much and the situation seems helpless.  But I know that the Lord is the only one who can change their lives and their situations.  Although, it sometimes seems impossible, I know that nothing is too hard for the Lord.  He can change their hearts, their lives, their families and their situations.  Please join me in praying for these kids who deal with bigger, darker, harder and scarier things every day of their lives than many of us will ever experience in our lifetime.  I can't wait to see the plans He has in store for their lives.